Hide and Seek: Blooms more elusive in Anza-Borrego this year

ANZA-BORREGO DESERT ---- Wildflower enthusiasts visiting the
600,000-acre Anza-Borrego Desert State Park will have to leave
their cars and search for the elusive blooms this year.

The wildflower season has gotten off to an early start thanks to
numerous rains, but recent freezes have restricted the abundance of
flowers.

Every spring, the blooming wildflowers in the park draw
thousands of visitors looking for colorful plants and flowers.

"It's amazing to see an environment that looks so dry and
lifeless come to life in different colors," said Briana Ross, the
Anza-Borrego Foundation's education coordinator. The nonprofit
foundation helps the park with research, conservation and education
programs.

Ross said her grandparents have been visiting the wildflowers
every year since the 1960s.

"We do see a lot of people coming back each year," she said.

Spectators expecting to see the colorful plants from the comfort
of their car windows will be disappointed this year. However, Ross
said that those willing to take a short walk down to the canyons of
the park will see many different species. The chuparosa, or
hummingbird plant, a large shrub with dark red blooms, has been
"exploding this year."

"People will be rewarded for getting out and looking at the
canyons and washes," she said.

The quantity of wildflowers depends on the weather. If it is too
hot, too cold, too dry or too wet, Ross said the blooms will
suffer. Wind storms are also a hazard to the plants in their
germination stage.

Since the care of these plants is all in Mother Nature's hands,
complicated weather requirements limit the wildflowers to about one
spectacular season every decade.

No matter how the weather turns out each year, Ross said there
is always something to see. If the desert floor doesn't have many
blooms, try looking in the park's higher elevations. Visitors can
also download a map to the best wildflower viewing locations from
the foundation's home page at theafb.org.

The park’s tour guides know where to go. Wildflower Walks are
the park's half-mile tours that take spectators to a different spot
every day. The walks are scheduled for multiple times a week and
explore the best wildflower locations. Proceeds from the $5 tours
benefit the park's botany society.

"People signing up for the walks are seeing about 30 or more
different species," said Ross.

Ross said she encourages visitors to bring water, snacks,
cameras and shoes that protect your feet.

While the length of the blooms is never known for certain, Ross
said that they are expected to last at least another couple of
weeks.

The park’s Visitor Center is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Call 760-767-4205.

Anza-Borrego Foundation Wildflower Walks

When: 9 to 11:30 a.m. March, 22, 23, 24, 30 and 31

Where: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, 200 Palm Canyon Drive

Admission: $5

Info: 760-767-0446

theabf.org

Wildflower Report

The Anza-Borrego Foundation issued this report on March 4 on
where to find spring blooms, and what species you'll find.

Borrego Palm Canyon:
One of the best displays
in the park right now, along with the western canyons. Expect to
see lots of Chuparosa and desert lavender, with brittlebush and
creosote bush also in bloom. Look for monkeyflowers in sandy areas,
and along the trail you should find a variety of blooming
plants.

Coyote Canyon:
Where the pavement ends on
DiGiorgio Road you can (but you'll have to get out and look for
them) see spectacle pod, brown-eyed primrose, desert dandelion,
lupine and so dune evening primrose and desert sand verbena. A nice
field of desert dandelion and other annuals is on the right side of
the road two miles past the end of the pavement (4-wheel drive
recommended)

Henderson Canyon Road:
Sand verbena and lupine,
dune primrose and desert sunflowers are blooming toward the eastern
end of the road, but the sunflowers have been badly frost-damaged
and may not recover for a good display.

Borrego Badlands:
Scattered desert sunflowers
and milkvetch (Astragalus) are making an appearance in washes and
on hillsides. A few desert lilies are blooming in Vista del Malpais
(four-wheel drive required).

Mountain Palm Springs/Bow Willow Area:
Monkeyflowers are on display in the sandy areas on the way to Palm
Bowl Grove. Look around for pygmy poppy, pincushion, brittlebush,
desert tobacco, rock daisy, popcorn flower, wild heliotrope
(Phaceila), wishbone bush, desert velvet and barrel cactus.
Vehicles with high clearance can venture into Indian Gorge to see
ghost flowers at the entrance to Torote Canyon.

Buttes Pass Road and Hawk Canyon:
Scattered
sand verbena and Arizona lupine and other annuals can be found.
High clearance 4-wheel drive recommended.